


Getting Rivalzoned (And Learning To Live With It)

by oogenesis



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Character Study, Established Relationship, Jealousy, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, the duels are a metaphor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-07 13:19:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5457866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oogenesis/pseuds/oogenesis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finding out that your best and closest and most infuriatingly attractive rival has come back to life is one thing.</p><p>Finding out that he and his former vessel have eyes only for each other - well, that's quite a different matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for quite a while with the intent of publishing it as a oneshot, but I think I can work with posting each snippet as a separate chapter. This is aiming to be around 8 to 10 chapters in length.
> 
> i fucking love puzzleshipping and i love one-sided prideshipping

When Seto Kaiba first heard that the pharaoh formerly known as Yugi's other half had somehow, against all odds, been pulled back into the world of the living and given a genuine flesh-and-blood body once more, his first reaction was a kind of creeping horror.

It had been almost a year. He'd finally gotten rid of the stubborn thoughts - a whip-crack voice calling out attack names, hands deft and sure drawing cards, the heady rush of facing an opponent who could counter anything thrown at him - he'd gotten past that. He'd finally gotten some respite, as well, from the mental exhaustion of constantly telling himself that he was _not_ thinking the aforementioned thoughts, that they were not affecting him, at all, in any capacity. He'd been relieved, honestly, to put all those messy feelings behind him and focus on the important things in life, like running a corporation.

But now - well. There was the potential for all that to come back. He did not want it to come back.

His disgruntled introspection was interrupted by Mokuba. "Hey," said his brother, climbing over the couch. "You know what Jounouchi said?"

"Have you been associating with that delinquent?"

Mokuba stuck out his tongue. "Anyway, you want to know what Jounouchi said Yugi did when he saw that pharaoh guy come back?"

Seto did not want to know.

"He _kissed_ him," said Mokuba, in a tone of horrified fascination. "On the _mouth_."

"He what."

"And the pharaoh guy kissed back. Jounouchi said it was like in a movie." He took a moment to consider the mental image. Then in reverent tones, as if relating the size of the world's biggest cockroach, he added, "I bet it was _disgusting_."

.

They all went out for ice cream to celebrate. Unfortunately for Seto, "they" included him.

He still wasn't sure how he'd been roped into it, and now he stood off to the side watching the gaggle of overly excited friends peering at the list of flavors. Atem, it seemed, was unable to go five seconds without receiving a congratulatory hug or pat on the back. Even Mokuba had sidled over, poked his arm once or twice, and declared, "Wow, you're actually solid. I guess you're real then," in rather impressed tones.

Everyone was so goddamn excited. The sheer _friendship_ of the whole business was thick in the atmosphere.

Seto glowered. He didn't need all this sentimentality. He managed perfectly well without friendship and all its supposed virtues that Yugi and his entourage were always going on about. He bought his own ice cream.

Anzu insisted.

All right, fine, he didn't buy his own ice cream, but that was only to be expected. He would have been a fool not to profit off of the misguided generosity of others.

The group walked out of the ice cream shop, carrying their various cones, and Seto trailed behind, studying Atem. (Because the man had been almost wholesale resurrected, which Seto still did not quite want to believe was possible. That was why he was staring at him. There was no other reason.) He was wearing what were probably spare clothes from Yugi's wardrobe; he was several centimeters taller and several shades darker than his partner. He looked, on the whole, real enough.

He was also sharing a cone with Yugi. They'd only ordered one, and now they passed it back and forth between them as the group walked down the streets of Domino, all speaking enthusiastically over each other to fill Atem in on what goings-on he'd missed in the past year. Yugi's fingers were tucked into the curve of Atem's waist, their shoulders and hips bumping together with each stride.

Public displays of affection. Tedious and sickening.

" _Hey_ ," said Jounouchi, suddenly, and the wink-wink-nudge-nudge of his tone set off immediate alarm bells in Seto's head. "You two. Are you a _thing_ now?"

"I think we all want to know that," added Honda. "I mean, if you're dating now, tell us. It's confusing me."

Yugi released Atem's waist, a little self-consciously it seemed, and he and Atem looked at each other. "Well..." said Yugi, "I'm not really sure. It was kind of on impulse when I..." He didn't finish the sentence, but his hand wandered up to his mouth.

"By 'a thing', do you mean romantically?" asked Atem. "Maybe. I mean we were always... a thing... in some sense of the word."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," said Yugi, and Atem nodded - but the way their gazes met and their hands found each other left little doubt as to what the final outcome would be.

"Gross," said Mokuba, and whatever spell had descended over the group was broken. Yugi laughed a little self-consciously, and some of the others joined in. Honda actually ruffled Mokuba's hair - not that it needed any more messing up - and Jounouchi was doing a good deal of eyebrow-wiggling at the nascent couple..

Seto watched all this with a sense of vague disgust, but also a certain degree of relief. His rival and the brat were going to enter a loving and committed romantic relationship, they would probably get couple-matching accessories and slow-dance at parties, and, for want of a better word, Atem would be conclusively off the market. Seto could rest easy; the nagging fantasies would fall away now that there was no hope of their ever coming to fruition.

That was how it should be. But instead, Seto felt something else beneath the relief; something small but persistent that grew steadily as he watched Yugi and Atem share ice cream and personal space. It was joined by a feeling of dawning horror as he realized what it was.

Jealousy.

He was _jealous_.

Quite suddenly, Seto felt a migraine coming on that had nothing to do with the ice cream.


	2. Chapter 2

"Stop sulking," said Mokuba.

"I'm not sulking."

"Yes you are. You've been glaring at that paperwork for the past five minutes without doing any of it."

Seto let it go. There was no point getting into an endless no-I'm-not-yes-you-are argument, and besides, Mokuba was right. Loath as he was to admit it, he was sulking.

"Why, though?" persisted Mokuba. "Was the ice cream bad? I thought it was good. Are you just jealous -"

Seto's head whipped up so fast he got a crick in his neck.

"- that you don't... have any friends..." Mokuba appeared to have lost the end of that sentence, and was staring suspiciously at Seto. Shit.

"Wait!" said Mokuba, and scrambled higher up on the couch, pointing an accusatory finger. "You are jealous, aren't you? You're jealous cause they're in _love_ -"

Seto resigned himself to certain death.

"Feet off the couch," he said curtly.

Mokuba ignored him. Of course. "You're jealous cause your best rival forever is dating someone else, is that it?"

" _Best rival forever_?"

"Wait, which one is he anyway?" continued Mokuba, seating himself on the back of the couch. "I used to think they were just, yknow, the same person."

"It's Atem," said Seto.

"You mean the pharaoh guy?" asked Mokuba, then, "Ha! You admitted it."

Seto started to say something in response. Gave up.

"They were _touching_ each other," he mumbled. "So much."

"Don't worry," said Mokuba knowledgeably, "this is the honeymoon phase. They're still all happy they get to see each other again. Give them some time and they'll tone it down" - he smirked - "and you won't have to be as _jealous of their romance_ anymore."

Seto frowned. "Where did you learn that kind of thing?"

"Soap operas," said Mokuba pointedly, "because _you're_ always busy with work and you never do anything with me, so I have to watch TV by myself. Even when the only thing on is bad soap operas -"

The phone rang.

Seto thanked all the deities he didn't believe in for the distraction, and picked up the phone. "Kaiba Seto speaking."

"Hey. Kaiba."

It was Atem. Seto felt his eyes widen and something swoop in his stomach.

"I need a favor." Atem's voice was cool, guarded.

"I don't do favors."

"I'll duel you."

A sharp electricity lanced down Seto's spine, and he sat up straight. "I'm listening."

"Ah." Atem sounded taken aback, as if he hadnt expected it to be this easy. "Well. The issue is this: I've essentially just appeared out of nowhere. I have no records of my life, no ID, no evidence of a family -"

Understanding was beginning to dawn. "You want me to forge you a paper trail?"

"You're the only person I know with the means to pull off something like that."

"We'll need to meet in person and discuss it," said Seto, then had to make a sharp gesture to silence Mokuba's budding snickers. "Something this big won't arrange itself in a day, and bear in mind that I haven't agreed to it yet. Do you want to make an appointment?"

"Tomorrow at 4:00." That was fast. He hadn't missed a beat.

"Good. I'll see you then."

Seto hung up and prepared himself to deal with Mokuba's delighted capering. "Stop that."

"He's coming over!" crowed Mokuba. "You invited him over! Are you looking for some _alone time_ with him -"

"We're going to negotiate a potential business transaction," snapped Seto. "Stop fooling around and get out of my office; I have work to do."

Mokuba stuck out his tongue and left.

The next day at the appointed time there was a buzz on the intercom. His secretary's voice said, "There's a Muto Yugi and an Atem... just Atem? here to see you. They say they have an appointment?"

"Send them up," said Kaiba automatically, before realizing that - Yugi? Yugi was there too?

He felt bitterly disappointed, even somehow cheated, but then he pulled himself together. Had he really been expecting that anything would happen between him and Atem simply because the two of them would be alone in the room? Good grief. One unfortunate case of romantic feelings and he was already starting to lose all sense of perspective. He would have to monitor his own thoughts more closely from now on.

The elevator outside in the hall dinged. Seto took a deep breath and fixed an imposing look on his face right before the door opened and his greatest rival walked into the room, followed by his greatest rival's goddamn _boyfriend_. Of course.

"Why," said Seto before he could stop himself, "are _you_ here."

There were, in fairness, a plethora of replies Yugi could had given to that, but all he said was, "To make sure you two don't kill each other.” He looked wary and defiant, and his face was set - so different from the wimpy child Kaiba had first met. Damn Atem and his influence.

"And because someone showing up alone at Kaiba Corp headquarters with no form of identification and _no last name_ would look really suspicious," said Atem brusquely. "Which is why we're here."

"I still haven't agreed to that, you know," said Seto. "I only said I'd listen -"

"Then _listen_ ," said Atem. His arms were folded and his jaw set. "For all this world knows, I don't exist. I have no ID and no background. I don't even have a last name, for crying out loud. Which means I can't apply for a job or to a school, I have no way of getting a license, I essentially can't function in this world. I need you to help me."

The last sentence was bare and uncompromising, laid out on the table for all to see. Atem's chin was high and his back was straight, but Seto knew how very vulnerable he was, and Atem knew he knew. He was swallowing his pride and putting himself in Seto's hands, asking for help.

Seto expected to feel some kind of satisfaction from this, a rush of power or pride, at seeing his rival at his metaphorical feet. Instead he just felt uncomfortable. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They were supposed to meet each other head-on, on a playing field that was never more uneven than any one of them could make up for on his own; they were supposed to match each other step for step and move for move. And now Atem was helpless.

It rubbed him the wrong way.

"You do realize," he said, "that this kind of undertaking would be very difficult and time-consuming on my part and yours - more mine than yours, I might add. Not to mention I will have to do some less-than-legal things to obtain some of the papers you're looking for. You realize what you're asking?"

"Yes," said Atem, his chin still held high. Yugi hovered uncertainly at his side.

"And you know I'll be expecting appropriate payment." He didn't have to add that all the money Yugi and all his friends could offer would be a drop in the ocean that was Kaiba Corp's fortune.

"I'll duel you," said Atem, and was that a hint of desperation in his voice?

"I -"

"As many times as you want."

Well.

Seto had to grip the edges of his desk to contain his - well, what was it? Excitement? Anticipation? Surprise at just how quickly that promise had turned his blood to gunpowder? Regardless, his skin seemed to sizzle with it - his breathing was tight in his chest.

As many times as he wanted.

"It's a deal," he said.

Atem looked nonplussed. He glanced at Yugi and Yugi shrugged. Seto could almost read the _Well, that was easy_ flashing between them.

Who cared what they thought, anyway. He was going to get to experience the unparalleled euphoria of facing the greatest opponent he had ever known, and he was going to get to do so any time he wished. He could take a little scorn in the face of that promise.

"All right," he said. "Where do you want to start?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do people write long chapters. i can't do this

One week into the process.

"I have a passport ready," said Seto into the phone.

"Thank you."

Seto waited. Nothing. Finally he said, "I believe you owe me at least one duel for this."

"Of course," said Atem. "When should I be there?"

"In an hour," said Seto, then, "I expect you to be punctual," and then he hung up the phone.

Atem was accordingly punctual. Seto was not; he decided to wait fifteen minutes or so before confronting him. This was a standard tactic of his. Make them wait, make them sweat, make them lose focus.

Although in this case, if he were honest with himself, it was just as much in order to try and pull himself together. He was going through his deck, checking and re-checking that nothing was out of place, when he noticed his hands were shaking from excitement. It was so _boring_ being one of the best duelists in the country sometimes. No opportunity for a real challenge. But at last, he was going to be able to feel the spark and life of an actual competition, the thrill, the adrenaline, heightened by Atem's beautiful skillful intensity. He felt he could allow himself a moment to calm his emotions.

Finally he was ready. He strode into the dueling arena, making sure to give off an aura of utmost confidence, when he saw something that made him freeze.

It was Atem, not fifteen feet away from him, his spine up against the wall and his eyes fluttering shut as Yugi pressed gentle kisses into his mouth.

Seto felt something in his stomach turn over, but he made no sound. They were absorbed in each other, intent upon each other, Yugi's hands in Atem's hair and Atem's head tilting into the contact. Seto wanted to look away, wanted to yell at them for doing such things on his property, but he couldn't stop staring at Atem - the way his hand on Yugi's chest came up to cradle Yugi's face with the utmost care and gentleness; the way his mouth moved softly against Yugi's; the small sound he made when Yugi pulled briefly away to kiss along his jawline. Their focus was deep and intense; it was like something consecrated and holy, a sacred event right up against the wall of the vast echoing duel arena.

Seto remembered Yugi's _I guess we'll just have to wait and see_ and felt a rush of bitterness. There went the last of that hope. They hadn't waited very long, had they.

Then Yugi's leg slid between Atem's thighs and Seto thought he'd better put a stop to things before they went any further. He cleared his throat, so pointedly it could have stabbed someone, and took a certain satisfaction in watching them spring apart.

"If you've quite finished," he said acidly, "we have a duel to carry out."

Yugi at least was bashful, his face turning bright red and his hand on the back of his neck as half-formed excuses fumbled out of his mouth. Atem, however, took a step forward and crossed his arms in a calmly defiant posture, as if Seto had walked in on nothing more than a polite conversation. "We do indeed."

His lips were slightly red and slightly wet. Seto had to force himself not to stare. "Why is Yugi here?"

"Hey, I wanted to watch," said Yugi, “no need to be like that.” He seemed to be recovering from the embarrassment. "The others will be along in a moment. Shizuka invited them all out to see a movie and it doesn't end until half an hour from now."

"Thank you for that fascinating information," drawled Seto. He turned his gaze back to Atem, and suddenly remembered his end of the bargain. "Here." He fished in his pocket, found what he was looking for. "Your passport."

Atem took it, cool eyes still trained on his. "Thank you."

"Time for your payment," said Seto, his hand almost automatically moving to the duel disk on his arm. "Shall we begin?"

The duel was a simple enough one. There was hardly even a special summon in sight - only a basic back-and-forth of attacks and trap cards. It was as though they had come to some tacit agreement that this was just a warmup, the first act only, as if to see what had changed in the long time since their last confrontation. Seto was reminded of two fighters, two wolves circling each other, gauging each other's strengths, testing each other's boundaries. He was also reminded of foreplay.

Yugi's friends arrived halfway through, all very excited to see a duel between two masters, but when Seto's life points finally clicked down to zero, there was a sort of a muted sigh. "That wasn't even interesting," he heard Jounouchi mutter. "What's the point?"

Seto couldn't agree less. "Another one," he called, and began shuffling his cards. Of course this way of dueling was interesting. Perhaps it wasn't the adrenaline-pounding blow-for-counterblow excitement that he was so looking forward to, but it was tantalizing. It promised more. It let him see the vast potential of power underneath Atem's restrained style, the quickness and cleverness with which he executed even the simplest of strategies, the way they were both raring to go and he was _making_ himself wait. Just a little longer. Building the anticipation.

The foreplay metaphor suddenly seemed rather more literal.

He lost this duel as well. "Do you want another one?" Atem called from across the arena, and Seto found himself honestly weighing the options. He'd had a taste, and he wanted more, but at the same time it would be so sweet to return to work with the promise of something greater spurring him on until the next match.

"No," he said curtly, "that's enough for today," and there were groans from the uninvited viewers.

"Is that it?" called Anzu, and Seto did not reply, but turned and headed for the exit. He had no more business here anyway. Faintly he heard Atem behind him saying, "There'll be more soon, don't worry. We were just getting warmed up," and he allowed a small smile to creep onto his face at the thought that they understood each other so well, from opposite sides of the field.

Then he remembered Yugi, and Yugi's hands in Atem's hair and Yugi's mouth on Atem's own, and it was like a kick to the gut. Or like a stomach-clenching loss of life points. The memory floated in his vision, taunting him, and it made him uncomfortable for a reason that was more than base jealousy, something more fickle and proud. He dug at it furiously, frustrated by the fact that he was having some godforsaken emotion he did not understand -

Ah, there it was. Atem had been kissing Yugi, had been touching him, so very gently - and Atem was not supposed to be gentle. He had an overly soft heart, it was true, but Seto had only ever seen him be sharp and commanding about it, with strong support for his friends and bitter anger towards those who wronged them. That power and sureness was what drew Seto to him in the first place. The fact that Atem could be otherwise, that he could be tender and hushed and soft, that he could hold Yugi so carefully and let Yugi pin him to a wall without protest - it bothered Seto. It wasn't the Atem he knew. It wasn't _his_ Atem.

He'd gotten his rival back, after a time when it seemed like he never would, and now he was slipping away again. Deep in some part of him that was not as ruled by reason and logic as he would have liked it to be, it bothered him more than it should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Upcoming chapters might take a little longer to post; I have some of them written out, but I also need to figure out what order I'm posting them in, refine the arc I've got going, decide if there are some of them I shouldn't post, etc.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha there are 69 kudos on this fic at the time of posting which is fitting because this is the dirtiest chapter. yeah i'm sorry you all waited three months and all you got out of it was a shitty filler chapter with dick jokes
> 
> anyway it's half past midnight and i'm supposed to be doing a huge essay but i thought "hey why not scribble out the last few lines for that onesidepride chapter and post it already, it's been sitting around for weeks and weeks" so i did that. there's some bits that have been there for months and gone over extensively, and some bits that i write five minutes ago that i haven't even proofread. sorry oops
> 
> anyway enjoy

The next duel was Atem's payment for being able to set up a bank account. Seto went into it almost cautious, not sure how different this one would be from last week's careful testing of the ice. He played it safe on his first turn, keeping things simple and setting up for a later move, only for Atem to hit him fast and hard with a triple attack that cut his life points in half and oh, that was how it was going to be. Seto felt all his nerves spark into life.

This was what he'd been waiting for and dreaming of. _This_ was the fierce back and forth, the soaring exhilaration, blow and counterblow with thoughts and hands always racing ahead to the next move. It was thrilling, it was beautiful, it was -

It was intensely arousing.

It took him a while to realize that the hot thrumming excitement he was feeling was in fact concentrating itself in one specific area, and even longer to realize that effect was _visible_. When it finally came to his attention his first reaction was almost panic. He tried to cover it with his duel disk, but that was far too obvious and made the disk difficult to use. Buttoning his coat up over it would be even more obvious. He had no choice but to just stand there, dueling the duel, with a raging boner.

Yugi, to his faint horror, was the first to notice. At least, Seto was fairly certain that was what it was. There could be no other explanation, after all, for the way he blinked, leaned forward, stared, then brought one hand to his mouth in an _oh, dear_ expression. His eyes immediately flicked to Atem, probably to see if he'd noticed as well, but Atem was still explaining the effects of the magic card he was about to severely damage Seto with.

Right, that. Seto remembered the trap card he himself had set and activated it. Atem's monster effect negated it, and Seto took the damage anyway. Business as usual.

Then why was the problem getting even worse?

Seto cursed his own hormones and Atem's singular prowess and grace, then drew.

The next person to notice was, to his eternal rage, Jounouchi. Much like Yugi, the blond suddenly leaned forward and stared for a moment, then his mouth opened wide in a sort of gleeful incredulity. Seto was already planning some kind of murder, then Jounouchi elbowed Honda, whispered frantically in his ear, and pointed straight at Seto's crotch, which nobody had any right to be pointing at ever. A wide grin spread across Honda's face.

Make that a double murder. Disguised as an accident. No one would ever find the bodies.

He ended his turn and only then realized he'd been so distracted he'd forgotten to take advantage of the effect that let him summon another monster, as he'd planned. _Shit_. There went the next few moves he'd calculated. This was all highly inconvenient and he really wished it wasn't happening.

Across the field Atem was staring at him, brow slightly furrowed; no doubt he was wondering what was wrong with his opponent. But he neglected to look down, even as Jounouchi and Honda snickered audibly. He seemed completely oblivious to the situation. Thank god for that.

"Are you going to take your turn anytime soon?" called Seto. He knew this was hypocritical, since he'd been dawdling and stumbling plenty himself, but he really wanted to pull attention away from the awkwardness of the moment before Atem noticed.

Atem frowned at his cards, biting his lip a little - _biting his lip_ , dear God, that wasn't helping at all - then said "Yes," and drew.

Seto ended up losing even more thoroughly than usual that day. To add insult to injury, on the turn that did him in - a beautiful succession of chain-reaction attacks, boom-boom-boom like a gun salute, Atem so powerful and sure - it all became too much, and he made a _noise_ , loud enough to just be audible over the explosions of monster attacks and the quick beeping of falling life points. Thankfully, Yugi seemed to be the only one to hear it, but Seto caught the way his mouth dropped open and his face turned red - _not_ ideal, not at all.

When the holographic smoke cleared Seto turned on his heel to go.

"Is that it?" said Atem from behind him.

"Yes," said Seto decisively, ignoring another round of snickering from Jounouchi and Honda. "I have business to attend to, you know."

Said business consisted of locking himself in the bathroom and staring furiously at his boner in the hopes it would somehow go away. Eventually, after several minutes of crossed arms and glowering, it did - just in time, really. If it had gone on for another few seconds he might have become aware of how ridiculous it was to be glaring daggers at a part of his anatomy that did not generally respond to glaring. 

A brief image flashed into his mind of Atem’s serious eyes, brows a dark slash of concentration, or perhaps righteous fury.

Well. That was to say, not self-inflicted glaring.

.

One day the heating system in the building was malfunctioning, the wrong air being directed to the wrong rooms, and Seto's office was hot and stifling. It was putting him in a foul mood, and he was half listening to Yugi and Atem discuss the particulars of Atem's backstory and half contemplating the murder of whoever was responsible for this.

(And if a part of him was paying appreciative attention to the way Atem looked with his face flushed and his eyes half-lidded from the heat, well, that was neither here nor there.)

It was only when Yugi picked up a packet of papers and started fanning himself with it that Atem asked, "Why is it so hot in here anyway?"

"I've been wondering the same thing," mumbled Yugi. "I thought maybe it was just me - like if I ate something weird for lunch."

"No, it's not just you," said Atem. He started to take off that ridiculously wide leather collar of his, and Yugi started and shot him a panicked look that clearly said _don't do that!_

Atem hastily redid the collar, but not before Seto caught a glimpse of a cluster of dark reddish-purple marks, round and clear against his skin. 

The room suddenly felt even hotter.

"Ahhhh," said Yugi, long and wavering and as awkward as ever in embarrassing situations, "I'll open a window, maybe it'll be cooler -"

Those were - well, they were _hickeys_. Suction marks. Bite marks? Did Yugi do that? Was Atem _into_ that?

Seto had a sudden and very vivid mental image of Atem with his head flung back, his spine an arc of ecstasy, sweat-slicked skin and fingers twisted into the sheets as Yugi kissed those bruises into his neck.

Now was _not_ the time. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, but carefully, making sure to keep them intact. Just in case he might need them later.

Yugi pushed the window open, and a rush of cool air entered the room. "That's better," he said, and returned to his seat. His gaze darted between Atem, who was fixedly staring at a list of possible aliases, and Seto, who was - well, he could only imagine how he looked, red-faced and staring. There appeared to be a desperate need to change the subject. "How did the room get so hot anyway?"

"System malfunction," said Seto. "I'm going to fire whoever's responsible."

Atem shot him a fierce glare. " _Don't_ do that."

It was a very arousing look. _Not the time_ , thought Seto, and tucked it into the back of his mind along with the previous thought. "All right, fine, I'll be lenient. I swear, you people and your softness. You're rubbing off on me."

"But that's good," piped up Yugi immediately, as if he'd been waiting for the opportunity. "Don't fight it! People will like you more if you're more lenient."

Whatever. More friendship bullshit. Seto waved it away. "Shouldn't we get back to the subject at hand?"

"Of course," said Atem, and flourished a piece of paper in front of Seto with all the expansive grace of drawing a card. "I've been thinking that, backstory-wise, an orphan with no known family might be the most viable - here's a list of possible orphanages -"

It took them another half hour or so to hash out the immediate details, and by the time Seto ushered the two of them out the door he had a lengthy to-do list of phone calls to make. He didn't make any of them, though. Instead, he made sure he was alone, then carefully dusted off the illicit fantasies, carefully locked himself in the bathroom, and very carefully did not think about the fact that he was masturbating to thoughts of a once-dead former pharaoh. Who was dating Yugi. Who was _taken_ -

\- taken, yes, Atem would let Yugi take him, he'd open himself up and let him in. They'd be gentle to each other, hushed and soft like the lovebirds they were; unless Atem _wanted_ it, unless he asked Yugi to mark his neck and make him scream -

\- with Seto it'd be different. He'd be rough, they'd be rough to each other, pushing and pulling, but there'd be a rhythm to it, a concord, an order; it would be like the give and take of a duel, your turn, now my turn to try and outdo you, I won't let you win - the hot pulse of a competition, with Atem's hands in his hair, Atem's teeth on his lips, Atem's compact and lovely body burning between his thighs -

Ah, there it was. He'd come in record time.

He was washing his hands and feeling - well, certainly not as ashamed as he should have been - when there was a banging on the door. "Big brother!" It was Mokuba. "Open up!"

Seto found himself ejected from the bathroom while Mokuba loudly complained about there being only one toilet on this floor, even though it was Seto's own personal floor and any more would be unnecessary. He returned to his office and stared at the list of phone numbers in front of him, the one they'd drawn up between the three of them. Some were in his own neatly professional handwriting, some in Yugi's quick scribble, and some in Atem's strong firm hand, the numbers a little too big and a little too sharply pressed into the paper. 

Well. He had some work to be doing. And it was still too hot in here, not even the open window was helping, where was that damn technician? Seto was going to fire him twice over, just for the embarrassment he’d put him through.

He remembered Atem’s gaze. _Don’t do that._ Which was ridiculous, because Atem would never know if he decided to have some grunt kicked out of work for exposing him to such, such -

In the end he didn’t fire the technician.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> future updates may be as slow as this one was, sorry. i've gotten more into the spinoffs now and there's a lot more material to write fic about (FOUR WHOLE SPINOFF SHOWS) which means that this has slipped a few notches down the long _long_ wip priority list. but i will try!!! i never forget my loyal fans : >
> 
> i have a QUESTION also do you guys think i should bump up the rating of this fic to M because of this chapter? i mean it does have a non-graphic masturbation scene. (btw this is the dirtiest this fic is going to get, if you were expecting anything more i'm sorry (but you're welcome to check out some of my other fic oho))
> 
> thanks for reading!! once again, feedback is highly appreciated, it's what i live and write for


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY IT'S BEEN MONTHS AND THIS IS STILL REALLY SHORT but i felt like having it longer would be too much of a tone/theme shift
> 
> thanks felix for the motivation

The meetings continued. The three of them spent long headachey hours in Seto’s office going over birth certificates, bank statements, drivers’ licenses; weaving an elaborate foster care backstory and filling it in with papers. Each time Yugi and Atem left Seto picked up the phone and made an assortment of calls - except for the times when he left the office, left the building, and went down to the pay phone across the street. Forgery was a risky business, and there were some calls he didn’t want traced.

Atem better be grateful, was his constant thought.

Although to be fair, the continued ecstasy of being able to duel Atem as many times as he wanted was worth the headaches, worth the dubious legality. Seto learned to button up his coat over his crotch before every duel, and while he had the itching suspicion that Yugi, Jounouchi and the rest were perfectly aware of the reason for that sudden change in fashion, they at least couldn’t be direct witness to any more incidents - of which there were quite a few. He was starting to have dreams -

Well, anyway.

Another day in Kaiba’s office, the beginning of a sunset tinting the desk and papers with a tired-orange look, and the topic of post-graduation came up. Not something Kaiba could relate to - he was only attending high school in the nominal sense, and his future path was already marked ahead of him as CEO of Kaiba Corp and rising star in the rapidly growing world of dueling. Those already enmeshed in greatness didn’t need to worry about such things. Yugi, however, seemed to take it as a cue to grow pensive.

“I’m not sure,” he said, sitting back in his chair, his eyes wandering to the ceiling. “I want to major in game design at some point, but I also want to stay at the game shop and help out alongside Gramps... I think I’ll probably take a year or two off to do that and then see what I’m going to do.”

Seto didn’t particularly care about that, but there was something in the way Atem watched Yugi deliver that statement - “What about you?”

The question was perfunctory, of course - Atem, being the blazing shooting star of awe-inspiring power that he was, was going to go into pro dueling. It was obvious. He and Seto would stand face-to-face above the rest of the world, and -

“I’m staying with him.”

Seto’s entire brain spluttered to a halt for a moment. “You what?”

“I’m doing whatever Yugi does,” said Atem, giving him a strange look. “If he stays at the game shop, I’m staying too, and if he goes to college I’ll go with him. Although I think taking a gap year or two would be beneficial for both of us -”

" _No pro dueling?_ "

It came out more frantic than he intended, and Atem leaned coolly back. "Not yet."

Seto had no idea what to think. “You don’t have to let yourself be chained down by him, you know."

"Hey -!" Yugi started to say, and then Atem said, very firmly, “He’s not chaining me down.” Staring Seto straight in the eye, he continued, “I’m going to need a while to get my bearings, being in the modern world with all my memories. I don’t need any excitement for a while. And I want to be with Yugi.”

Seto felt the ground crumbling under his feet. Atem was going to become a nobody? Become normal? Fade into the masses, fade from Seto’s vision? They weren’t going to be two behemoths of power in an eternal struggle so explosive and beautiful it took Seto’s breath away to think about? That wasn’t - it wasn’t what was _supposed_ to happen.

What a waste of talent.

“So this is what he’s done to you,” he muttered, still shaken.

Two palms slammed on his desk and Atem’s face was suddenly very close to his, eyes burning. “You take that back, Kaiba.”

Yugi was half out of his chair behind him, frozen uncertainly, his expression a mix of worry and affront.

“The only thing Yugi has _done_ to me is make me a better person. You don’t get to to dictate or judge what I do with my life and you _certainly_ don’t get to insult my partner. Take it back.” 

Atem was staring in unblinking anger, so close to him. As usual, the blazing intensity of it sent a shivering down Seto’s spine, but it any case it clearly hadn’t been a good idea to insult his rival’s pet. “All right,” he muttered, “I take it back. Now sit back down.”

Atem sat back down, his arms crossed, still glaring. Yugi was staring at Seto with a wounded look, until his gaze moved to Atem and a variety of expressions passed over their faces, with one or two meaningful glances in Seto’s direction. They probably having another one of their silent conversations. Seto hated it when they did that.

“Well then,” said Yugi finally, and with the clear air of trying to find something to do with his hands, reached forward and took a couple papers from Seto’s desk. He was holding them upside down. “How about that school registration stuff -”

The conversation creaked slowly back into some semblance of normality, and the orange-sunset light stretched across Seto’s desk, with a feeling of rubbing eyes. It was a tired yellow on Yugi's and Atem's foreheads. At the back of Seto’s mind, an echoing loop, were Atem’s words - _you don’t get to dictate or judge what I do with my life_ \- throbbing like a headache, and the remembered glare hurt his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you know when i wrote about atem saying "the only thing yugi's done to me" i had to resist the urge to make a dirty joke


	6. Chapter 6

Finally, at long last, after so many months, the process was complete.

“I think that’s everything,” said Atem, taking the bank account information Seto handed to him and running his fingers half-wondrously over the text, still fresh from the printer. “I think that’s it.”

“You’re a man of this era now,” said Yugi cheerfully. “How does it feel?”

Atem reached out and put an arm around his shoulders, squeezing him gently even as he continued to read the papers. “Not bad at all.”

“We can register you in school now,” said Yugi, “as a transfer student -”

Atem shook his head. “What’s the point, if you’re graduating soon?”

“Mm. That’s true. And you’d have to be at least a year behind, since you haven’t taken any other classes -”

“That’s true. I don’t want to hold you back.” He pulled Yugi in a little closer. “Just a few more months, then we can be together… all the time…” They were both drifting off from the rest of the world, wrapped up into each other now. “Go anywhere. Do anything. I have a passport now, we could -”

Seto was almost used to being ignored like this now - almost. There was still a dry bitter taste in his mouth at it. He cleared his throat meaningfully.

“Yes?” Atem looked up, not letting go of Yugi.

“One more duel,” said Seto. _I’m still here. You’re not getting rid of me, damn it._

Atem sighed and nodded. “One _last_ duel.”

“But -”

“You completed your end of the bargain,” said Atem firmly. “I’m going to complete mine. After this, it’s over.”

His eyes were steady and his chin was high, like in so many duels before. Yugi was leaning into him, pressed against his side, watching silently; Seto felt a hot rush of anger and the urge to shove him away, tear the blasted two of them apart. He clenched his teeth, unclenched them, and took a breath.

“Right,” he said. “Understood.”

 

One last duel. 

Seto was ready to make the most of it. He was going to throw his all into this duel, just as he knew Atem was going to do, and it was going to be beautiful and amazing. And there wouldn’t be any more after it, with Yugi and the rest graduating soon Atem was about to fade into being a nobody by his precious partner’s side, there wouldn’t be any more -

His mind quietly shut down that thought and refused to accept it.

"Wait," came Yugi's voice from the sidelines, just as the duel was about to start. "Atem - can I come up there?"

Atem started a little, with the look of someone who had just remembered a forgotten plan, and said, "Oh! Yes, of course."

"Wait," said Seto. "What are you doing?"

Yugi was already climbing the steps to the arena. "We're going to take you on together."

"That's not what we agreed to," said Seto, and he wasn't protesting or spluttering but it somehow had the same effect.

"We didn't exactly lay out a specific list of terms and conditions," said Atem. "Anyway, you've faced me when I had help from him before, when I was his other self. What's wrong with doing it again?"

"Please?" added Yugi. "It's something we've been wanting to try for a while, and you're the perfect opponent for it. It'll be an extra challenge for you!"

Well, he supposed he always was up for a challenge. "All right," said Seto, and as Yugi was nearly vibrating off the floor with excitement, Seto activated the duel -

\- and from that very moment everything ceased to be about him. His cards, his moves, his best strategies were just a playground, an exercise for the team in front of him. Their real focus was each other.

It was, if Seto were honest with himself, amazing. Yugi and Atem moved in unison, spoke in unison, finished each other's sentences. Yugi would place a card facedown on one turn and on the next Atem would play it without hesitation, although Seto could have sworn he hadn't been in the line of sight to see which one it was. At one point, a single move on Atem's part set off a chain reaction of effects that reduced Seto's life points to nearly zero, and only in hindsight did he see the careful web of traps Yugi had been weaving the whole time, like a trail of gasoline waiting for Atem to set it alight. He was preparing for defeat with what was almost relief, when Yugi with his face flushed and eyes bright from excitement played a magic card that brought his life points back up by two thousand and allowed them to start toying with him all over again. At no point did they ever stop and discuss strategy with each other; it was as if they could read each other's minds.

It was beautiful. It was breathtaking. It was a display of skill and trust and deep understanding in the form of a relentless fast-paced dance, a focus on each other so complete that it was as if no one else in the room, not even Seto, was really there. If they'd taken off each other's clothes and had sex right there on the floor of the arena it would hardly have been more intimate.

Seto felt like a very bitter voyeur. 

By the end, he had almost given up, putting forth only the most perfunctory attacks as he waited for the frenetic onslaught to end. When it finally did and his life points clicked down to zero, there was a resounding silence in the room. Yugi and Atem slowly turned to stare at each other; they, like Seto, were flushed and breathing hard.

Then Yugi's friends in the peanut gallery exploded. Anzu was clapping fervently, Jounouchi cheering incoherently, Honda whistling. They were babbling about how that was the greatest thing they had ever seen, people would pay to see that, they should take it to the tournaments -

Yugi's face broke into a laugh of breathless amazement. He launched himself at Atem, flung his arms around him, and kissed him soundly on the mouth. Atem stumbled back, planted his feet in the ground, and his hands settled into the small of Yugi's back; they were as intent in each other as they had been five minutes before.

Jounouchi wolf-whistled. Seto felt his expression go sour.

Then they broke apart, staring at each other with disbelieving grins - and it was so open and sincere on Atem's face - positively glowing with their victory. "That was so good," said Yugi, breathless, "we need to do that again sometime - take it to tournaments -"

Atem nodded, his expression still somehow wondrous.

Seto had the sudden thought that this looked remarkably like a particularly good post-coital rush. He tried to dismiss it as his own interpretation, which it probably was - he was, after all, the one who regularly got aroused when dueling Atem - but in any case the image was persistent. It didn't help his jealousy.

He left. No one seemed to notice.

Again he ended up in the bathroom, leaning over the sink, hopelessly bitter that this last most beautiful duel had been stolen from him and berating himself for being so foolish, Atem for being so quick and beautiful like a spark and flame; Yugi for being right there, in between, as perfectly made for Atem as Atem was made for him -

And there it was, wasn't it? Seto was highly disdainful of the sentimental concept of soulmates, but he had to admit that he was witnessing a more literal example than most. The duel he had just seen was a testament to that; Seto was used to gauging an opponent by the way they dueled, and he was certain no one could put on such a perfect display of synchronicity without a deep love, and trust, and knowledge of each other. That was Yugi and Atem - picture-perfect soulmates. It was just too much.

Seto didn't want that. Did he? No, he didn't. But then what did he want? He wasn't in love, God forbid. The idea of engaging in the rituals of courtship and dating seemed a remote concept; the idea of something as clearly deep-seated and loving as Atem's relationship with Yugi was - well, it felt wrong. There was of course the element of physical desire, persistent and burning at the back of his mind, but that was only part of the picture.

When it came down to it - he wanted to duel Atem. He wanted to be his closest rival, to get to experience that gorgeous quick energy time and time again. He wanted to duel him and maybe also touch him and taste him and feel those nimble hands on him but it was all wrapped up in the fire of competition, like a dance, like a race.

It wasn't anything substantial. It was a collection of fantasies and wants and hot-running feelings that couldn't form anything cohesive. There was no goal to strive for; he had to stew in his own vague and maddening jealousy with no way to bring it to any kind of fruition. Seto _hated_ that.

After a while he left the bathroom, when the ignominy of sulking beside a toilet was finally starting to wear on him. He was still mired in a highly unwelcome confusion, so he only realized there were voices coming around the corner when he heard his own name.

It was Yugi and Atem. Seto immediately ducked back around the corner, flattened himself against the wall, and listened very hard.

"- the problem," Yugi was saying. "I think he's jealous."

A trickle of icy horror crept down Seto's spine.

"You mean Kaiba?" Atem sounded baffled.

"He gets hard-ons while dueling you." Yugi sounded almost apologetic. "And I saw his face just now, after we dueled together. He looked really upset. Maybe we were being a bit too blatant, with the -?"

"The -?" Hushed, with an edge of delight. Seto wanted to gag.

"Mmm, you know what I mean," said Yugi, and then there was a sound that might have been a very brief kiss - Seto prayed it wasn't a kiss - before his voice became serious again. "Shouldn't we... do something?"

Atem snorted. "He can deal with his own issues himself."

“The thing is… I don’t think that’s something he’s any good at.”

How _dare_ he. It was, admittedly, probably true, but no one had any right to go around _saying_ it - especially not a little brat who had needed Atem’s influence in order to grow a spine.

“We’re going to have to talk to him,” sighed Yugi’s voice.

“We’re not his therapists,” said Atem, unconvinced.

They weren’t. They weren’t. Damn right they weren’t. How condescending could one _be_? Seto’s skin crawled with it. He flattened himself further against the wall.

“I mean… it concerns you. And it concerns me, sort of indirectly, if he thinks… if he thinks I’m stealing you from him.” The last was half-mumbled, a little awkward. “We kind of have to talk to him about it.”

It wasn’t any of their fucking _business_.

God, he couldn’t listen to them anymore. He turned and strode away, back to his office, and found himself walking faster and faster; away from the imaginary sound of Yugi and Atem laughing at him. How absolutely infuriating. He wasn’t - he didn’t need _help_.

Back in his office, a pile of paperwork in front of him. He stared at it dully, his nerves still thrumming with the - whatever it was. The entire idea of doing work seemed intensely unappealing. He wasn’t going to duel Atem anymore, was the thing. It wasn’t going to happen again. That just - that wasn’t _possible_.

He leaned forward and hit his forehead against the desk in sheer helpless frustration at himself, and then stayed in that position, breathing against the wood. Mahogany, smelling of luxury. 

Atem and Yugi’s dueling had been - had been beautiful, simply that, breathtaking in its near-perfection; and Seto felt horribly and completely alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are highly appreciated, infinitely more so than kudos! I've worked hard on this - still am, as a matter of fact - and would very much love feedback.
> 
> tumblr is yugiohlesbian if you have anything in particular you want to discuss


End file.
